How NC State’s young playmakers powered Wolfpack over UNC

CHAPEL HILL — He could have hung his head after he dropped a crucial pass that could have set up a manageable field goal attempt in a 1-point loss at Georgia Tech a little over a week ago. He could have continued to sulk after two more balls went square off his hands to fall incomplete on back-to-back plays in his first taste of the NC State and North Carolina rivalry.

But instead of choosing to hide, redshirt freshman wide receiver Noah Rogers stayed focused. He knew his time was going to come in what turned out to be a second-half shootout against the Tar Heels. All Rogers was hoping for was another opportunity. 

The wideout had to wait nearly two quarters for that chance to arrive, but it turned out to be one of the biggest plays for the Pack. 

With just under a minute left in regulation, down by 1 to UNC, Rogers ran a go-route looking to create a chunk play for the Wolfpack. He streaked down the far side of the field, right down the middle of the numbers on the Tar Heels’ artificial turf playing surface. By the time he looked back to freshman quarterback CJ Bailey, the ball was halfway to him with two UNC defenders blanketing him. 

As the ball descended from its apex, Rogers was sandwiched between UNC defensive backs Marcus Allen and Will Hardy. But Bailey’s pass found its way through Hardy’s hands, directly into his wide receiver’s mitts and Rogers held on for dear life. He secured the catch, popped up and celebrated with an NC State fan on the sideline. 

Rogers’ 44-yard reception, his only catch of the evening, helped set up the go-ahead touchdown that redshirt freshman running back Hollywood Smothers scored with 25 seconds to play. That two-year plunge propelled NC State over UNC 35-30 on Saturday night at Kenan Stadium. 

“He could have been down on himself, but he made that key play in the fourth quarter,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said of Rogers postgame. “That’s what it’s about. It’s about when young guys make mistakes, will they learn from them, will they own them and will they make up for them?”

Rogers did more than own his previous errors. Three straight drops turned into a game-altering grab that allowed NC State to reach its fourth straight win over UNC. 

The Raleigh native was eager to put his inability to make the play in the final minute at Georgia Tech behind him at UNC. He wanted to start fast, but two more errors followed. Then, the dam broke. 

“All I could do is to keep going and fighting through it,” Rogers said. “My brothers, they were there for me and believed in me. That’s what made it easier for me.”

The Ohio State transfer was one of many first and second-year players that NC State’s offense leaned on, especially in the second half. Bailey, the Pack’s wide-eyed starter, helped pace the Wolfpack to 373 total yards and 28 points in the final 30 minutes with both Smothers and Rogers leading the way. 

Bailey was 14-of-20 passing for 242 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, while Smothers led the rushing attack with 13 attempts for 83 yards and two scores. The tailback also added three receptions for 34 yards through the air. 

The signal-caller had a rough start to the game, passing for just 19 yards with a 3-for-8 completion rate through the first half. He was determined to change that at halftime.

“My mindset was to go into the second half and play way better,” Bailey said. “Most importantly, taking care of the ball, driving the ball, so when that fourth quarter came and we were down, we had to be more aggressive and could make plays in the second half.”

Bailey did more than just improve on his lackluster first half. He had just one incompletion over his final 12 attempts as he tossed 223 passing yards with two touchdowns in the last two periods of the game. 

The Miami, Fla., native seemed as if he was a different quarterback after the break. He was confident and pushed the ball downfield without putting it in harm’s way. Bailey, in a way, showed up when it mattered most against NC State’s biggest rival.

“CJ’s got it all,” Smothers said. “He’s back there calm. He’s a leader in the huddle every time. He’s got all the intangibles back there and we trust him with the ball in his hands. He made a lot of big plays, especially for guys his age. As a freshman quarterback … he’s ahead of his time.”

Doeren, NC State’s 12th-year coach, believed Bailey was going to engineer the game-winning drive with less than two minutes to go. He oozed a sense of trust in the quarterback, and told the defensive assistants on the sideline that the Pack was going to win the game after UNC took a 30-29 lead with 1:51 to play after an Omarion Hampton 47-yard touchdown off a shovel pass. 

Bailey did just that, and Doeren was more than impressed. 

“His confidence is through the roof,” Doeren said of Bailey. “But so is his humility, and that’s what makes him a special guy. He cares deeply about the program and his team. He was in it to win it today, man. He was fired up to play that game.”

NC State, which struggled to finish drives at points this season, didn’t punt in the second half. It scored on all six of its possessions, often times answering a punch from the Tar Heels on the scoreboard. Each of those drives spanned at least six plays and four series went for 69 yards or more as Bailey and the young core of playmakers around him rose to the moment. 

The difference between the Wolfpack’s first and second halves? Giving Smothers the ball as a runner. He had eight rushing yards in the opening two quarters, but that flipped and in turn the Wolfpack offense clicked at a high level. He logged 75 rushing yards and the two touchdowns in the second half as the Oklahoma transfer thrived in finding space and using it to his advantage.

“[We] were playing with efficient down and distances,” said Doeren, whose team faced just four third-down conversion opportunities in the second half. “When we threw it, we made catches. We secured the football. We had protection for CJ, he wasn’t rushed back there at all. He made some plays with his feet. … But guys just made plays.”

NC State’s trio of young playmakers did their job in the final 30 minutes of action. It resulted in a win over the Tar Heels — something that is becoming the norm for the Wolfpack program — and its fifth straight year of bowl eligibility. 

And Rogers, who had not logged more than 41 reccing yards since mid-October, was able to be a difference maker. The former five-star recruit out of nearby Rolesville High was expected to be the Pack’s game-changing wideout and he delivered on one of the team’s biggest stages. 

That was all he could think about postgame, reflecting on his up and down first full season as a starting wide receiver at the collegiate level. He did it with his hometown team in a game he grew up watching in a hostile environment. 

“It shows that fighting through and believing in one another [works],” Rogers said with a grin. “[Bailey] holds us to a high standard and I hold him [to it], so we’re going to get through things together.”